Camry and Corolla Help Toyota Achieve Strong April Sales

Late last week, it was reported that Toyota was one of the automakers who posted U.S. sales gains for April. The automaker enjoyed a 13 percent increase in deliveries in the country last month. Fourteen nameplates contributed to the considerable sales advance of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A, two of which are the most well-known from its Toyota Division: the Corolla and the Camry.

Both the Corolla compact car and the Camry mid-sized sedan posted a two-digit U.S. sales increases in April. The 20 percent growth in demand made both nameplates the sales leaders in their respective segments.

The Corolla remained the bestseller among compact cars in the fourth consecutive month this year. As Automobile Magazine reported, the Corolla sold a total of 29,061 units in the United States in April. The finishing order remained the same from March: in second place is the Honda Civic and the third placer is the Chevrolet Cruze. The Civic sold 27,611 units while the Cruze had a total of 21,752 deliveries.

Closing the top five for the compact class are the Hyundai Elantra and the Ford Focus. The Elantra sold a little less than the Cruze (20,225 units) while the Focus landed on the fifth spot with a volume of 19,104.

The Camry, America’s bestselling car for 12 straight years, is also the bestselling car in the mid-sized sedan segment. It was the clear sales leader in its class with 38,009 deliveries. The Honda Accord was in second place with a volume of 34,124 and the Ford Fusion reclaimed the third spot with 26,435 units sold.

The Nissan Altima, which was in second place in March, dropped to the fourth spot with 25,004 units. Hyundai Sonata closed out the top five with 20,495 units sold.

The Camry was refreshed for the 2015 model year, and it was launched just last month. It will be interesting to see how the newly styled sedan will perform in the sales race and whether or not it will keep the segment’s top spot.

Just like its cars, Toyota’s pickups also sold very well in April. Pickup sales jumped over 13 percent. The all-new Toyota Tundra posted a 24 percent sales increase, selling more than 10,000 units. Meanwhile, the Tacoma enjoyed a 7 percent sales gain with almost 14,000 units sold.

Other gainers include the 4Runner (64 percent), Highlander (28 percent), FJ Cruiser (508 percent), as well as the RAV4, which set an April record by delivering 19,000 units.

Lexus nameplates also contributed to Toyota’s strong April sales performance. Six nameplates reported sales gains, allowing Toyota’s luxury division to have a 28 percent sales increase. These include the all-new IS (whose deliveries tripled for the fifth straight month) and the GX (whose demand more than doubled for the sixth consecutive month).

Sales of the Lexus RX and GS also had an upsurge. RX deliveries jumped 15 percent while demand for GS advanced more than 21 percent.

As impressive as the posted gains are, not all were good news for Toyota. Demand for the Prius, Toyota’s flagship hybrid car, went down 9 percent in April and 19 percent through the first four months of the year. The plug-in model saw its deliveries triple, but the standard model’s sales plunged 17 percent.